International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, 2014
Hydrocarbons are widespread in the environment, but because of the massive utilization of petrole... more Hydrocarbons are widespread in the environment, but because of the massive utilization of petroleum products, they are nowadays strongly involved in environmental pollution. Bioremediation is the obliging technology for the treatment of hydrocarbon-contaminated sites. Therefore, to investigate the potential of petrochemical hydrocarbon (HC)-degrading indigenous microorganisms in wastewater samples collected from Fajr petrochemical wastewater treatment plants, a strain of Acinetobacter baumannii was isolated from this hydrocarbon-contaminated wastewater and examined for its ability to utilize hexadecane. This strain was capable to grow on n-hexadecane as the sole source of carbon and energy. The ability of the isolate to degrade nhexadecane was assessed by growth assays and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis. Using GC analysis, it was shown that the strain KSS1060 was able to degrade 62 % of n-hexadecane within 6 days, which mostly (51.6 %) occurred within the first 24 h. Identification of this hexadecane-degrader bacterium was carried out using 16S rDNA sequence analysis. Additionally, characterization of chemical composition of wastewater samples by the use of gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis indicated the presence of Hexanal, Benzene methanol, Indanol, 1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid diethyl ester, diisobutyl phthalate, and Phenol,4,4 0-(1methylethylidene) in the major constituents of wastewater. In conclusion, this study can focus on more costefficient applications of native bacterial strains for the large-scale biodegradation of wastewater samples from petrochemical plant in industry, where it causes disturbing problems due to its harmful effects on different organisms and human beings.
International journal of systematic and evolutionary microbiology, 2014
A novel species of basidiomycetes was isolated from kitchen garden soil in Shahryar city, Tehran ... more A novel species of basidiomycetes was isolated from kitchen garden soil in Shahryar city, Tehran province, Iran. Molecular and conventional methods were employed to identify and classify this single isolate. Morphologically, the isolate was considered yeast-like with hyaline and oval cells reproducing by monopolar budding, forming ballistoconidia, hyphae, arthroconidia and didymospores. Basidia and basidiospores resembling those produced by Basidioascus species were observed. Sequencing and Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of rRNA genes and the internal transcribed spacer region revealed its sister relationship to described species of the genus Basidioascus. Assimilation and fermentation tests, cell-wall carbohydrate analysis and enzyme activity tests were performed to provide insight into the metabolism of the isolate. Based on morphology, physiology and phylogeny of rRNA gene sequences, the isolate was shown to represent a novel species of the genus Basidioascus, described as Basidi...
In higher education, it is common to hear "we have the best engineering education" or "we have ta... more In higher education, it is common to hear "we have the best engineering education" or "we have talented and experienced instructors who offer the best teaching/learning paradigm," etc. In general, the four main components of higher education are simply students, faculty, facilities, and curriculum. We may have a flawless four components, yet the outcomes may not be as good as expected: an indicative of the crucial need for teaching/learning continuous evaluation. Peer review can be one of the most effective tools for the continuous improvement of higher education offerings. In this paper, the authors form a team to create an effective peer-review process with new and innovative formative and summative functions. A new checklist is being designed and used by two or more reviewers to rate the course syllabus, objectives, outcomes, and activity/assessment tools; this is the summative evaluation phase. Two or more peers used another designed checklist to rate different aspects of the instructor's pedagogy based on a class visit for the formative evaluation. Both lists are shared with the faculty but not used as part of his/her evaluation. A pilot study is performed on the four authors of this paper and four courses of the construction engineering curriculum in the American University in Cairo. The four faculty adopt the process as they believe that what they have excelled in for some time will unequivocally be surpassed by something that is newer and indubitably works better.
Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC) is a ductile fiber reinforced mortar that exhibits higher... more Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC) is a ductile fiber reinforced mortar that exhibits higher flexural capacity and significantly reduced crack width, opposed to conventional concrete. The main factor contributing to these enhancements is the polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers that decrease the brittleness of conventional concrete. The mix design of the ECC proposed in previous work contains fly ash as one of its components; however, to make it relevant to Egypt, this paper replaces the fly ash with cheaper, locally produced silica fume. The experimental program includes tests to measure the compressive strength, the flexure strength, obtain stress strain curves, and measure the structural performance through dynamic loading. The outcome of these tests conveyed the enhanced ductile properties of the ECC mixes containing silica fume and fly ash as compared to conventional concrete, whereas the optimum mix was found to be the silica fume with a 25% of cement. To corroborate the result...
Proceedings of International Structural Engineering and Construction, 2016
Due to the empirical nature and drawbacks of the conventional procedures, the Strategic Highway R... more Due to the empirical nature and drawbacks of the conventional procedures, the Strategic Highway Research Program (SHARP) has developed a Superior Performance Asphalt Pavements (SUPERPAVE) mix design procedure. The main objective of this research is to study the applicability of the Superpave in Egypt. This is done by studying aggregate characteristics using both the Superpave and the conventional techniques, investigating the normal (virgin) and SBS modified asphalt characteristics using Superpave, and designing asphalt mixtures comprised of the characterized materials using both the Superpave and the conventional Marshall design methods. Results indicate that Superpave is applicable to Egyptian aggregate with a more restrictive supervision of crushing aggregates and gradations (some gradations may need modifications). Mix design results indicated two main findings; first, most optimum asphalt contents (OAC) determined by the Superpave mix design method are consistently less than OA...
Proceedings of International Structural Engineering and Construction, 2021
The Mechanistic-Empirical principles were used to develop a software, known as AASHTOWare Pavemen... more The Mechanistic-Empirical principles were used to develop a software, known as AASHTOWare Pavement ME Design. It is a design and analysis software, designed according to the latest AASHTO standards, the Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design Guide MEPDG approach, which identifies the causes of stresses in pavement structures and forecasts the pavementâs performance throughout its lifespan. Due to its sophisticated complex design, the AASHTOware is of constrained availability in the market. However, due to its significance and its ability to revolutionize the industry, this paper discusses a proposed flexible pavement design tables based on the MEPDG that is founded on Egyptian traffic loadings and material characteristics. This study is divided into two phases; the first is concerned with evaluating the performance of an actual Egyptian roadway pavement design while the second aims to develop a new design tool integrating traffic, climate, and material. The research results showed ...
Urban Slums represent a chronic problem to Egypt. According to official statistics, there are 1,2... more Urban Slums represent a chronic problem to Egypt. According to official statistics, there are 1,221 urban slum inhabited by 17 million people in Egypt. These urban slums suffer from deterioration in infrastructure; this includes lack of access to proper sanitation, inadequate water distribution networks and congested street networks. These issues in infrastructure systems are reflected on the social aspect and the quality of life in these areas with problems such as high crime rates, health problems and spread of epidemics.
In many regions around the world, the empirical pavement design methods are the only pavement des... more In many regions around the world, the empirical pavement design methods are the only pavement design choices available to pavement engineers. These empirical methods have several limitations. The Mechanistic–Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) is the latest pavement design approach and is considered an advanced tool to provide a reliable and economic design. Due to its sophisticated and complex nature in terms of the need for a large amount of data input in addition to its constrained availability, the MEPDG is of limited usage in those regions. The main objective of this study is to initiate a procedure to create a flexible pavement design catalogue based on the MEPDG approach and in accordance with a region’s traffic loading, climate, and local material characteristics. This procedure consists of three different tasks. The first task is concerned with establishing the MEPDG data inputs from actual local roadway pavement materials and available regional traffic and environmenta...
The scope of this study is to explore and evaluate the effect of reinforcing the interface betwee... more The scope of this study is to explore and evaluate the effect of reinforcing the interface between the base and asphalt concrete layers in a flexible pavement section with bi-axial geogrids; using both large scale experimental tests and numerical modeling using three-dimensional nonlinear finite elements analysis. A laboratory characterization for each layer of the pavement section according to a laboratory programs that included soil classification, plate loading test, determination of asphalt concrete dynamic modulus for and CBR ratio for different elements in pavement section. A laboratory model of the pavement with and without the geogrid reinforcement, located at the top of the base layer was constructed. A dynamic loading scheme was applied on the experimental pavement model. Concurrently, a numerical model was developed to simulate the effect of such type of reinforcement on the pavement section in terms of the road’s performance enhancement and reduction in rutting. The nume...
The scope of this study is to explore and evaluate the effect of reinforcing the interface betwee... more The scope of this study is to explore and evaluate the effect of reinforcing the interface between the base and asphalt concrete layers in a flexible pavement section with bi-axial geogrids; using both large scale experimental tests and numerical modeling using three-dimensional nonlinear finite elements analysis. A laboratory characterization for each layer of the pavement section according to a laboratory programs that included soil classification, plate loading test, determination of asphalt concrete dynamic modulus for and CBR ratio for different elements in pavement section. A laboratory model of the pavement with and without the geogrid reinforcement, located at the top of the base layer was constructed. A dynamic loading scheme was applied on the experimental pavement model. Concurrently, a numerical model was developed to simulate the effect of such type of reinforcement on the pavement section in terms of the road's performance enhancement and reduction in rutting. The numerical model was proved to verify simulation of the pavement experimental model when comparing the overall trend of stress distribution throughout the pavement structure.
International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, 2014
Hydrocarbons are widespread in the environment, but because of the massive utilization of petrole... more Hydrocarbons are widespread in the environment, but because of the massive utilization of petroleum products, they are nowadays strongly involved in environmental pollution. Bioremediation is the obliging technology for the treatment of hydrocarbon-contaminated sites. Therefore, to investigate the potential of petrochemical hydrocarbon (HC)-degrading indigenous microorganisms in wastewater samples collected from Fajr petrochemical wastewater treatment plants, a strain of Acinetobacter baumannii was isolated from this hydrocarbon-contaminated wastewater and examined for its ability to utilize hexadecane. This strain was capable to grow on n-hexadecane as the sole source of carbon and energy. The ability of the isolate to degrade nhexadecane was assessed by growth assays and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis. Using GC analysis, it was shown that the strain KSS1060 was able to degrade 62 % of n-hexadecane within 6 days, which mostly (51.6 %) occurred within the first 24 h. Identification of this hexadecane-degrader bacterium was carried out using 16S rDNA sequence analysis. Additionally, characterization of chemical composition of wastewater samples by the use of gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis indicated the presence of Hexanal, Benzene methanol, Indanol, 1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid diethyl ester, diisobutyl phthalate, and Phenol,4,4 0-(1methylethylidene) in the major constituents of wastewater. In conclusion, this study can focus on more costefficient applications of native bacterial strains for the large-scale biodegradation of wastewater samples from petrochemical plant in industry, where it causes disturbing problems due to its harmful effects on different organisms and human beings.
International journal of systematic and evolutionary microbiology, 2014
A novel species of basidiomycetes was isolated from kitchen garden soil in Shahryar city, Tehran ... more A novel species of basidiomycetes was isolated from kitchen garden soil in Shahryar city, Tehran province, Iran. Molecular and conventional methods were employed to identify and classify this single isolate. Morphologically, the isolate was considered yeast-like with hyaline and oval cells reproducing by monopolar budding, forming ballistoconidia, hyphae, arthroconidia and didymospores. Basidia and basidiospores resembling those produced by Basidioascus species were observed. Sequencing and Bayesian phylogenetic analysis of rRNA genes and the internal transcribed spacer region revealed its sister relationship to described species of the genus Basidioascus. Assimilation and fermentation tests, cell-wall carbohydrate analysis and enzyme activity tests were performed to provide insight into the metabolism of the isolate. Based on morphology, physiology and phylogeny of rRNA gene sequences, the isolate was shown to represent a novel species of the genus Basidioascus, described as Basidi...
In higher education, it is common to hear "we have the best engineering education" or "we have ta... more In higher education, it is common to hear "we have the best engineering education" or "we have talented and experienced instructors who offer the best teaching/learning paradigm," etc. In general, the four main components of higher education are simply students, faculty, facilities, and curriculum. We may have a flawless four components, yet the outcomes may not be as good as expected: an indicative of the crucial need for teaching/learning continuous evaluation. Peer review can be one of the most effective tools for the continuous improvement of higher education offerings. In this paper, the authors form a team to create an effective peer-review process with new and innovative formative and summative functions. A new checklist is being designed and used by two or more reviewers to rate the course syllabus, objectives, outcomes, and activity/assessment tools; this is the summative evaluation phase. Two or more peers used another designed checklist to rate different aspects of the instructor's pedagogy based on a class visit for the formative evaluation. Both lists are shared with the faculty but not used as part of his/her evaluation. A pilot study is performed on the four authors of this paper and four courses of the construction engineering curriculum in the American University in Cairo. The four faculty adopt the process as they believe that what they have excelled in for some time will unequivocally be surpassed by something that is newer and indubitably works better.
Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC) is a ductile fiber reinforced mortar that exhibits higher... more Engineered Cementitious Composite (ECC) is a ductile fiber reinforced mortar that exhibits higher flexural capacity and significantly reduced crack width, opposed to conventional concrete. The main factor contributing to these enhancements is the polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers that decrease the brittleness of conventional concrete. The mix design of the ECC proposed in previous work contains fly ash as one of its components; however, to make it relevant to Egypt, this paper replaces the fly ash with cheaper, locally produced silica fume. The experimental program includes tests to measure the compressive strength, the flexure strength, obtain stress strain curves, and measure the structural performance through dynamic loading. The outcome of these tests conveyed the enhanced ductile properties of the ECC mixes containing silica fume and fly ash as compared to conventional concrete, whereas the optimum mix was found to be the silica fume with a 25% of cement. To corroborate the result...
Proceedings of International Structural Engineering and Construction, 2016
Due to the empirical nature and drawbacks of the conventional procedures, the Strategic Highway R... more Due to the empirical nature and drawbacks of the conventional procedures, the Strategic Highway Research Program (SHARP) has developed a Superior Performance Asphalt Pavements (SUPERPAVE) mix design procedure. The main objective of this research is to study the applicability of the Superpave in Egypt. This is done by studying aggregate characteristics using both the Superpave and the conventional techniques, investigating the normal (virgin) and SBS modified asphalt characteristics using Superpave, and designing asphalt mixtures comprised of the characterized materials using both the Superpave and the conventional Marshall design methods. Results indicate that Superpave is applicable to Egyptian aggregate with a more restrictive supervision of crushing aggregates and gradations (some gradations may need modifications). Mix design results indicated two main findings; first, most optimum asphalt contents (OAC) determined by the Superpave mix design method are consistently less than OA...
Proceedings of International Structural Engineering and Construction, 2021
The Mechanistic-Empirical principles were used to develop a software, known as AASHTOWare Pavemen... more The Mechanistic-Empirical principles were used to develop a software, known as AASHTOWare Pavement ME Design. It is a design and analysis software, designed according to the latest AASHTO standards, the Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design Guide MEPDG approach, which identifies the causes of stresses in pavement structures and forecasts the pavementâs performance throughout its lifespan. Due to its sophisticated complex design, the AASHTOware is of constrained availability in the market. However, due to its significance and its ability to revolutionize the industry, this paper discusses a proposed flexible pavement design tables based on the MEPDG that is founded on Egyptian traffic loadings and material characteristics. This study is divided into two phases; the first is concerned with evaluating the performance of an actual Egyptian roadway pavement design while the second aims to develop a new design tool integrating traffic, climate, and material. The research results showed ...
Urban Slums represent a chronic problem to Egypt. According to official statistics, there are 1,2... more Urban Slums represent a chronic problem to Egypt. According to official statistics, there are 1,221 urban slum inhabited by 17 million people in Egypt. These urban slums suffer from deterioration in infrastructure; this includes lack of access to proper sanitation, inadequate water distribution networks and congested street networks. These issues in infrastructure systems are reflected on the social aspect and the quality of life in these areas with problems such as high crime rates, health problems and spread of epidemics.
In many regions around the world, the empirical pavement design methods are the only pavement des... more In many regions around the world, the empirical pavement design methods are the only pavement design choices available to pavement engineers. These empirical methods have several limitations. The Mechanistic–Empirical Pavement Design Guide (MEPDG) is the latest pavement design approach and is considered an advanced tool to provide a reliable and economic design. Due to its sophisticated and complex nature in terms of the need for a large amount of data input in addition to its constrained availability, the MEPDG is of limited usage in those regions. The main objective of this study is to initiate a procedure to create a flexible pavement design catalogue based on the MEPDG approach and in accordance with a region’s traffic loading, climate, and local material characteristics. This procedure consists of three different tasks. The first task is concerned with establishing the MEPDG data inputs from actual local roadway pavement materials and available regional traffic and environmenta...
The scope of this study is to explore and evaluate the effect of reinforcing the interface betwee... more The scope of this study is to explore and evaluate the effect of reinforcing the interface between the base and asphalt concrete layers in a flexible pavement section with bi-axial geogrids; using both large scale experimental tests and numerical modeling using three-dimensional nonlinear finite elements analysis. A laboratory characterization for each layer of the pavement section according to a laboratory programs that included soil classification, plate loading test, determination of asphalt concrete dynamic modulus for and CBR ratio for different elements in pavement section. A laboratory model of the pavement with and without the geogrid reinforcement, located at the top of the base layer was constructed. A dynamic loading scheme was applied on the experimental pavement model. Concurrently, a numerical model was developed to simulate the effect of such type of reinforcement on the pavement section in terms of the road’s performance enhancement and reduction in rutting. The nume...
The scope of this study is to explore and evaluate the effect of reinforcing the interface betwee... more The scope of this study is to explore and evaluate the effect of reinforcing the interface between the base and asphalt concrete layers in a flexible pavement section with bi-axial geogrids; using both large scale experimental tests and numerical modeling using three-dimensional nonlinear finite elements analysis. A laboratory characterization for each layer of the pavement section according to a laboratory programs that included soil classification, plate loading test, determination of asphalt concrete dynamic modulus for and CBR ratio for different elements in pavement section. A laboratory model of the pavement with and without the geogrid reinforcement, located at the top of the base layer was constructed. A dynamic loading scheme was applied on the experimental pavement model. Concurrently, a numerical model was developed to simulate the effect of such type of reinforcement on the pavement section in terms of the road's performance enhancement and reduction in rutting. The numerical model was proved to verify simulation of the pavement experimental model when comparing the overall trend of stress distribution throughout the pavement structure.
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